02 November,2013 06:06 PM IST | | A Correspondent
Indian opener Rohit Sharma on Saturday became the third cricketer after compatriots Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag to score a double hundred in ODIs.
Sharma struck 209 off 158 balls against Australia in the seventh and the final ODI against Australia at Bangalore's M.Chinnaswamy Stadium. It was studded with 12 fours and 16 sixes.u00a0
Rohit Sharma hit 16 sixes during his innings.
During the course of the innings, he also surpassed the record of the highest number of sixes slammed in an innings by an Indian. Mahendra Singh Dhoni earlier held the record of 10 sixes.
Rohit looked set to overtake Sehwag's score of 219, but fell just short.
While Rohit scored his first 100 off 114 balls, the next hundred came off only 42 deliveries. All the sixes were clean straight hits in the arc between deep extra-cover and deep mid-wicket. There was minimum muscle and maximum timing in each and every six that he hit.
This is Rohit's third big score in the current apart from his match-winning 141 at Jaipur and 79 in the last game at Nagpur.u00a0
Rohit has hit a purple patch off late, crossing the 1,000-run mark in 2013 in the course ofu00a0today's innings.
Tendulkar was the first cricketer to touch the 200 landmark when he hit 200 not out against South Africa in Gwalior, February 2010. In December 2011, Sehwag scored 219 against the West Indies in Indore becoming the highest individual scorer in ODI cricket.
Rohit has been in and out of the Indian team but his fortunes have turned around dramatically since he has started opening. Along with Shikhar Dhawan, the Mumbai right-hander has cemented the opening slot in ODIs.
Rohit has scored 589 runs in his last 10 innings, averaging 84.14.
Before the start of this match, he had scored 2,840 runs in 107 matches at an average of 34.63. The 26-year-old is yet to make his Test debut.
Talking about his innings, the Mumbai lad said he was pleased with his knock and hoped that it helps his team to win the match and series.
"It's a wonderful feeling. I didn't expected to score 200. I wanted to get my eye in first and then capitalise in the end and it worked off well," said Rohit. "I want my team to win. Only then this knock will be a good innings," Rohit added.
